i tell other heads when talking about this show, that it was like going to church ... my kind of church anyway ... all the harleys lined up with not a fuckin space for error ... as one entered the fairgrounds ... um, what else would you like to know? about the blue gels perhaps ? it was pure ecstasy the entire day if you were tuned in and you're body/mind/soul were prepared for transformation or maybe just another day if you had already reached terrapin ! what a lovely sentiment... i was 17 yrs old that wonderful day and will never forget how fucking cool the grateful are ... roy buchanan played his old beat up telecaster ( summertime blues ) , then the kate bothers, then levon helm and the rco allstars, then the longest dead show in ten years ! and those whacked to listen where stoned immaculate, as they say, for quite some time afterwards ... LONG LIVE JERRY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can see why this was my last show. Pretty mediocre, like it was "phoned in", at least compared to the 1974-1977 shows I saw. The Dead were GREAT, best band in the world, from 1969 to 1977, then it was mostly down hill.
I'm sure a lot of you will disagree, but I guess variety of opinions makes the world go round!
Jerry getting into heroin destroyed the Dead and himself. It's a damn shame. I miss him :(

This was my second show. Two days earlier I saw the first at Providence. Jacked and confused on purple gel, ended up in some small coastal Mass town with my 2 buds and a girl named Crystal Hazard.
Late for for work in Woburn, MA the next day I was shit-canned from my forklift-driving job. I wasn't terribly upset about that as my buds were planning a trip I could now attend.
Lewiston changed me forever. Doubled down on the purple and danced my ass off. The n Playin => Uncle => Wheel => Uncle => Playin had me perplexed. Do they always do this? Not like Yes and Jethro Tull!
Dragging back to the car in wonderment, we found a stream to sleep next to. By the waterside I will lay my head. 50-80 shows calmer since then :)

Yes, to what unclefukkintony said!

One of the 8 best shows i danced at in person, maybe the greatest, though it was only my 2nd show, and i was 16 or 17....so my personal #1 is

I must have been 15 or 16 and I went with my older brother. We drove 45 minutes from our house and parked pretty far away to escape the crowd at the end. I walked in and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I had been to rock shows and the band was always the show. This band just stood and played music, while the crowd was the show. The opened with Alabama Get Away and I was dancing. I remember loving the crowd energy and Althea, Rider and especially Shakedown Street. The band really took me on a trip and I didn't need anything more than a dose of music and deadhead energy. Great memory and the first of several wonderful Grateful Dead experiences.

Drove up from Boston, three people, two tickets--spent our pocket money on Vitamin A outside the venue, tried to enter on a two-year old Boston Garden ticket, but unsuccesful==ended up payhandling enough dough to buy that one needed ticket and a case of beer for the ride back to Boston. Made our way to the front of the stage, thanks to
vitamin A, and proceeded to, lambast the band for every shitty riff they sent out to the ground. First time I ever witnessed Jerry concerned. But when you're a 20-year-old Deadhead under the influencew who gives a shit! By the way, loved the show!

This is a sweet aud recording of a well-played, energetic show. Bobby sings himself hoarse during OMSN. Really nice Sugraree with a cool crescendo. I highly recommend this concert!

Besides the usual unusual of a typical Dead concert, it was so HOT at the fairgrounds that the
Managment set up hoses and giant plastic sheets and created a gigantic "slip'n'slide" for the crowd who promptly improvized the sport of "Human Bowling"....Trippy. If we'd only had Handi-Cams back in those days!

Have a Grateful Friday Beeeeyatches!!!

Lots of informative reviews already and this is a nice, clear recording.

I'll only add that there is another version on Archive.org with a very different sounds balance. Despite coming from a cassette, to my mind it sounds more natural, with better balance, less-boomy but still audible bass, and less-intrusive crowd noise.

http://www.archive.org/details/gd1980-09-06.aud.morris.106620.flac24

This show is superb! This is the GD at their most sympatico, clearly well up for it, egged on by a very enthused crowd - their contribution elevates this aud above others - and this lovely, raw recording really makes me wish I had been able to see them before it all got too big (Hampton 84 was my first show). Outdoor mentalism at its unrestrained finest! The crowd noise gives the added oomph that soundboards lack. Utterly brilliant, as we say in Blighty...

To add, Phil is a bit low, which detracts, but I reckon this is possibly the most 'real' aud on the archive. Would love to discuss... daquiche@hotmail.com

The first set is just rockin', they only slow down for FOTD. The playing is better and sharper in the 1st set, for you perfectionists.The second set starts off with a nice Shakedown. The post space features the slower NFA into a very good Wheel, that has Jerry playing it more slowly like they did in '77, with more sustanined notes. It is excellent. Then you get a reprise for both UJB and PITB which are very good.
Great audience too.
If you prefer your GD full out rocking than this is your show. Decent audience, although there is distortion when Phil hits those deeper notes.

one of the best shows I've seen, and I've been to a lot..longest first set I've ever seen..great vibe, perfect way to end that tour.

DeadHeads throw alotta "Best Dark Star" "Best Shakedown", etc. around.

How often have we debated "Best Promised Land"?

I nominate this one

This show is notable for several reasons. It's very long - over 3 hours. It has an excellent song selection with even some exploratory jamming (even if that doesn't work too well - see below). Most important is the energy - every song seems to have that extra spark.

Strangely, the more pedestrian songs such as Alabama Getaway and Greatest Story are the ones where the spark is most noticeable - probably because there are so many great versions of the feature songs. The jamming is nothing ground-breaking or unusual, just very well done, except for Feel Like a Stranger. That song starts out blazing hot and settles into a meandering jam that needs to go into another song, but because it's the first set, they just end it without building the intensity back up. Shakedown, OTOH, is 15 minutes of hot, fast groovin' that defies you not to move your feet. The transition from Playin' into Uncle John's goes smoothly until Jerry decides to slow the tempo, resulting in some awkwardness. Not Fade>Wheel is an unusual transition that works out really well here.

The sound quality is excellent - all the instruments are well separated and balance, any hiss is inaudible, and the crowd noise adds to rather than drowning out the music.

I give it 4 stars because, like I said, there's nothing ground-breaking, nothing that turns the universe on its head like say, 9/21/72, just some nice tasty jams and very high energy from beginning to end.

sign me up. this show is huge.another review characterizes this uncle johns band as joyful. this is EXACTLY the right word. this show--esp the second set, just resonates with tremendous energy. it does not get better than this.jerry flat out attacks every tune and phil is absolutely engaged.play this loud.clap if ya'want.

This version of Feel Like A Stranger is freaking hilarious if only for the intense Weird rhythm guitar mixed throughout on top of the howling audience. LOL!!!! Brent melts the house down, Jerry rebuilds it, and Brent melts it down again.

Hard to imagine these freaks being this competent at such a late date. Even Jerry admits it's going to be a long, long, long crazy night -- right on the goddam backbeat. Sweeeeeeeeeeeeet.......

...of ya'll that got to be at this. Must have been something. As previously noted, some interesting playing in some of the, at that time, newer tunes...playing that does not really resemble the final iteration we became used to. Stranger is a good example.
Anyway, Far From Me, Stranger, China>Rider (ripping transition), Shakedown and Sailor are all super...
This is also a very good recording.

Wow I LOVE this show. Take a look at the second setwhat a line-up of tunes, exploding with huge energy, bubbly and tight
The jam tunes Sugaree, Stranger, Shakedown, Playing into a joyful UJB outstanding! Jerry tears up the Saint, the crowd reacts...and get get on of those lovely Grateful Dead moments where the crowd and the and are in sync and feeding off one another. Magic!!... Good mix of jamming and straight up tunes. Great flow between songs and moods. These are the kinda shows and expirences that kept us yearning for more. and me grateful for them. Folks cry about not having complete broads of this classic, but sometimes good comes out of bad. The recording provides a good sound mix and separation, with the warm feel of actually attending the show. You turn this up loud, close your eyes and imagine the sceen and vibe... the people around you. Early September in Maine, close your eyes and feel the cool autumn breezes.

I made it to this show by hitching from Philly to Maine with a Bertha album cover as my sign. It worked! Best memory of this show is the awesome way the sunset played the band. I remember it as the end of Stranger (But I've been wrong on songs before)The jam was so cool as the sun wnet down over the trees and when it was over the whole crowd seemed to let out a collective but quiet "Wow! That was special"

As far as all the clapping that was mentioned in other reviews, Blame it on the version of Hand Jive Levon played earlier in the show. I guess next time instead of enjoying the moment we should be concerned with posterity.

My first show was a year before this in Portland ME (5/13/79). Then Augusta; both Cape Cod shows; and Portland again on 5/11/80. These were all A-level shows (especially Cape Cod!) There were a few Jerry and Bobby shows sprinkled in, including the Boston 7/25/80 shows that were bittersweet yet ecstatic. Lewiston was my 6th Dead show, and afterwards there were 15 more but none ever matched this fantastic night in Grateful Dead heaven. Lewiston Maine 9/6/80 was A+++ with gold stardust sprinkles for everyone.

I remember the boys were really ripping during those years and you usually caught one great complete set per show, and often two. Also, the influence of dance music (fading disco, rising new wave) was pervasive. I always tried to introduce anyone to the Dead by explaining that it was music for dancing. The "old" stuff was already proven. For instance, the Dancin' at Cape Cod was life-changing. Songs like ShakeDown and Feel Like a Stranger were new and funky. I saw mostly east coast shows and the early ones were all played blazingly fast and LOUD - yet clear. The wasn't the muddiness to the sound that crept in around '84 or so. Especially Phil. You could always here him clean and clear. And as you know, he could save a song by jumping in BIG AND STRONG and pulling the boys out of the abyss.


Lewiston was my #1 show because:

1) It was outdoors on a gorgeous early-fall, end-of-tour day in Maine. With a lot of very happy and energetic Dead Heads.

2) Great song selection with a red-hot performance throughout. Especially the 2nd-set song cycle spun around "The Wheel". That was magical.

3) Phil. Phil was especially loud that night. (The tapes here on archive.org suffer from that with excessive boominess throughout). The most impressive was right at the end of Space, just before NFA. I don't normally recommend Space as a track to listen to, but give it a whirl. On this night Phil literally SHOOK THE EARTH. I do mean that the ground rumbled. Everyone was awestruck and transfixed. I remember thinking that he sounded like a massive dinousaur rumbling along a path and roaring.

I saw some discussion on archive.org that debated the quality of the singing that night. I'll add my 2-cents: This was the last show of the east coast summer tour. The boys were clearly hoarse that night. Everyone noticed. We got extra energy from the band because they couldn't sing pretty. They just sang harder and played like there was no tomorrow.

I'll give the show a 5 rating because it was so good. However, I wish there was a tape available that had better balance/equalization at the low end.

Finally, some other highlights:

- This show has the best version of Saint of Circumstance that I know of. The breakout is truly orgasmic.
- Sugaree
- Red Rooster
- China Cat->Rider
- The above aforementioned 2nd set.


Enjoy!

I was fortunate to be at this show, as stage help. Jerry was smiling, the band was focused, Phil was especially hot. 'Althea' was beautiful. Deadbase.com lists this as a top 100 show. Rory Buchanan and Levon Helms opened the show, and hung around behind the drums to watch. Blue skies, cool breezes. Thanks for the great tape. Maine is Beautiful! CD

I had just returned home from hitching around the country, a dog-eared copy of The Dharma Bums in my pack. Chris picked me up in his 72 Bug, along with two other friends, and we motored to Lewiston smoking joint after joint. This was my second Dead show and what a defining moment, poised between the end of one era and the start of another. After dropping a tab, I just remember dancing through the whole set. At one point, the clouds parted to let shafts of sun light beam down and the whole crowd seemed to oohh and ahh and to practically lift off the ground as one. The playing was inspired, the crowd operating on some higher groove, the sunshine warm and mellow. This is the first time I've heard this show in 25 years, so thanks for making it available! Really takes me back to a sweeter time.

Six of us crammed into my 1976 Pacer and came north from Vassar. Only my second Dead show but what a memory! Frisbees, Labor Day sunburns, frolick'd and watched some of my expert New Jersey Heads know every lyric and note...I was so jealous.

Imagine I was more interested in seeing if Jerry's hair was long again than recognizing the songs played. (Many things don't change, come on Bobby!!!) Can't even remember the name of one of my classmates who drove six hours straight back to campus after the show ended on two doses of 1980 east coast mesc. I slept the whole way home and got back in time to submit an outline for my senior thesis. Should have been Wayne's World 15 years early, not Kerouac! Well ah,

Great to listen to this show with clarity. I've owned the old audio taped in 1982 from WHRB's (Cambridge) 72 hour Grateful Dead orgy..."many of you were there"...how time has driven by...

Just a 13 song opening set. This one had teeth. Lots of new songs played well. Stranger had some different groove with Jerry and Philip gettin' it on right before the final transition into the ending creshendo. Or stated another way, ftrans>cresh>BAM!
The Far From Me is REALLY good!

Very nice second set. Good Shakedown. The best song was Althea. Jerry walking the band down that path was so sweet. Pretty Rocking really. Sailor>Saint was cool. Level's are high post Drumz, but not terrible with minor exception.

Curious about the lineage prior to Nak. Yes, lots of clapping but that's part of the deal and I will take it.

Strongly Recommend.

This is a hot show on a nice day, but this recording has too much wind distortion and oversaturation. Anybody got a juiced copy?

Darned good show. My only problem is with the audience. They clap to the rhythm waaay too much for my taste. Stomp to the beat, dance to the beat...clap every once in a while, but not this much.....ahh whatever, it's good energy nonetheless.

A feel good show with great energy.